JPop Listeners! You need to listen to this single!

Crystal Kay's 16th single, entitled Kiss, was released on 26 January 2005. The title track, as well as Crystal Kay herself, was used in a CM for NTT DoCoMo's Music Porter.

Kiss is a sweet love ballad that was written and produced by the same people who wrote and produced Mika Nakashima's Yuki no Hana and MISIA's Everything. Composed by Ryouki Matsumoto, the song's instrumental is largely orchestral and is genuinely a pleasure to listen to. Throughout the verses, the instrumental is kept simple and as the song approaches the chorus, it builds up to match the vocals of Crystal Kay. Speaking of Crystal Kay's vocals, her performance in Kiss is absolutely perfect. Crystal didn't over-perform the song but she didn't under-perform it either. Also, with the right amount of emotion in her voice, Crystal manages to keep the listener's attention and make them believe that she truly understands what she's singing about. There really isn't any faults, which makes Kiss one of Crystal Kay's best songs.

got to move on is one of the two B-sides included on this single. With this song, Crystal Kay returns to her R&B style that, quite frankly, is what this listener believes is the style in which she truly shines. In got to move on, Crystal sings about her moving on from a boyfriend who cheated on her even though she thought they were meant to be together. What's interesting about this song is that it's actually a really simple one, which doesn't involve vocal acrobatics or even an over-produced instrumental, but is by no means boring. Crystal sings the song with an attitude that is perfect for the song's content and along with Ashley Ingram, she also composed an instrumental that doesn't outshine but shows off her voice.

Composed by Kazuhiro Hara and produced by OCTOPUSSY, Sweet Friends is the second B-side and is a sweet pop song about friends who are always there for you and who understand you without a single word being said. Out of the three songs, Sweet Friends is definitely the most catchy and is a song that instantly reminds you of wasting time in summer with your friends. Crystal's vocal performance is, yet again, perfect and I love the instrumental. What I love about this song is that with its instrumental, it could have easily become another typical JPop song that is too sugary for anyone to handle but Crystal's vocal performance prevents that from happening. In a nutshell, Sweet Friends is a good pop song that all JPop listeners should listen to.

Single Ranking: A+

Kiss is definitely one of the best singles I have ever had the pleasure of listening to. Each of the three songs show a different side to Crystal Kay, which in turn shows her diversity as a singer. It is hard to say which of the songs stand out the most as all of them are pretty much perfect but Sweet Friends shines just a tiny bit more than Kiss and got to move on. Overall, Kiss is the definition of a good single and all Crystal Kay fans, heck, all JPop listeners NEED to buy this single.